[Acute pancreatitis and diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography]

Urgent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography in acute pancreatitis allows to detect associated biliary disease, display the bilio-pancreatic anatomy to plan optional early surgery and offer an alternative in the treatment with endoscopic sphincterotomy and/or infundibulotomy, in cases of choledocholithiasis and impacted stone at the ampulla of Vater. In relation to the prevalence of biliary lesions in the etiology of acute pancreatitis, the urgent ERCP is a safe and useful procedure that offer diagnosis and treatment, so therefore, it must be considered during the evaluation of patients with acute pancreatitis.